Certain commercial aluminum alloys exhibit electrochemical activation in chloride media as a result of heat-treatment above 350degreesC. Activation is manifested by a significant negative shift in the corrosion potential and a significant increase in the anodic current output when polarized above the corrosion potential. The present work relates the phenomenon to the enrichment of the surface of alloy AA8006 by Pb. The behavior of alloy 8006 was verified by comparison to selected model binary alloys among which only the AlPb system exhibited similar behavior. Elemental depth profiles obtained by glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy demonstrated a significant Pb enrichment of the surface of activated materials. The mechanism of Pb enrichment of the surface and the role of Pb in activating the surface are discussed with reference to available information in the literature. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.